


Deathclaw in the Neighborhood

by Pikuna



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Banter, Canon-Typical Violence, Deathclaw, Drug Use, F/M, Pre-Relationship, always take your Minigun with you kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-17 00:51:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8124241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikuna/pseuds/Pikuna
Summary: Ashley and Hancock are on their way to the Castle, as they suddenly got attacked by a very large specimen of a Deathclaw.Hancock gets the chance to play savior and earn himself a little reward.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Well, my first try on a Fallout story.  
> It's based on something that happened to me In-Game and I simply wanted to test out how well I can write Hancock and my Sole Survivor Ashley together.  
> I had a lot of fun during their banters, but the action scenes really demotivated me.  
> But I still hope you guys enjoy this!
> 
> Btw, [here is a link to a few screenshots of my Ashley](http://pikuna.tumblr.com/post/150738291232/well-time-to-present-my-female-sole-survivor-from), just sadly without the leather armor I intended her wearing in this story.

South Boston really was idyllic. Or had been. Before the bombs had been dropped.

Ashley currently walked through a residential district, the Castle on the beach as her destination. She was very eager to clean it from the Mirelurks, that had taken it over. Hopefully she could finally give her responsibility as General of the Minutemen to Preston or anyone else who was qualified for the job, after they got back their headquarter. Ashley had no problem with helping the Minutemen and Settlers, but she surely didn't want to be at the top of the chain of commands of a growing organisation like this. She just needed some well placed words to convince Preston to take the role of the General. He surely was far more suited and passionate than her. 

A groan jolted Ashley out of her musing and she turned around to look at her companion and friend, John Hancock. The Ghoul had carried a Minigun all the way from Goodneighbor, where she had picked him up and now his strength was at its limit. On one hand she felt sorry for him, but on the other hand she told herself that it was his own fault.

"I really don't get why you have to carry that Minigun with you," she told him, when he put the weapon down to catch his breath. Hancock did his best not to appear as exhausted as he actually was and just gave her a look of reproach, while he leaned with one hand on a broken fence.

"Well, since you refuse to bring any kind of bigger weapon with you, not even your beloved Flamethrower, I thought that at least one of us has to be prepared."

Ashley rolled with her eyes. "It's just a bunch of Mirelurks Hancock. I think _that-_ " she nodded to the heavy weapon -" is a bit extreme."

"Hey, give the Minutemen some credit. I'm sure if it really just were a bunch of Mirelurk's, like you say, they would have taken back their castle years ago. Boy scout sounded like it's serious business with those crawlers," he tried to argue, but she only waved her hand dismissively. 

"Preston is an idealist. It's better advertisement, when their General takes back the castle in epic fight against monsters, than saying that some of the Minutemen have cleaned it from a few crabs."

Hancock raised a quizzical, nonexistent eyebrow at her. "Ah, so you think he wants to play the propaganda card with ya?" 

"I don't want to say that he does it on purpose. He is too kind to be manipulative." Ashley sighed and looked at her Pip-Boy. "It just sounds more heroic and the people like that. He wants them to be inspired by me and join the Minutemen."

A wide smirk played on Hancock's lips at that. "Can't hold it against him. You are a very... _inspiring_ person after all Scorch." Ashley caught on his playful tone and only snorted.

"Your words won't pacify me, nor will they convince me to help you carry that gun, Mr. Mayor," she said without looking up from her Pip-Boy and started walking again.

"Hmm, maybe I just wanted to flatter you?" he retorted as innocently as possible, but had his typical charming expression on his face.

Ashley had to fight down a pleasant grin, but she still smiled when she looked over her shoulder to him. "Well, in that case it worked."

With a laugh, Hancock took a little jar of Buffout out of his jacket to give him a little strength boost for the rest of the way. His companion didn't wait on him, but headed from the little alley they were currently in onto the main road, still looking at the map of her Pip-Boy.

When she set foot on the main road, Ashley heard a deep growl from her right sight. Slowly, without making hasty movements, she turned her head in the direction and looked at the biggest Deathclaw she had ever seen. Granted, she had only seen and fought two of those mutated beasts, but this one was with no doubt over a head bigger and had a lot more spikes on his body. Also his claws looked sharper than usual. 

Ashley's eyes widened and her blood run cold, when she realized what was standing besides her and luckily seemed to be as astonished about this encounter as her. Deathclaws - together with those suicide Super Mutants - were on the top of her Nope-List about things she had to fight in the wastelands. Raiders, Synths, Bloatflies, even the annoying Feral Ghouls were all fine and dandy to fight against. Those creatures totally were not.

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit_ , was her mental mantra, while Ashley slowly walked back into the alley, still holding the gaze of the Deathclaw. It slowly started to step towards her, but wasn't charging....yet. She wanted to warn Hancock, but was afraid it would alert the beast. So she carefully started to get a hold on her Pipe-Gun, hoping she could strike a surprising first shot.

However, it seemed that luck had just left her.

So focused on the creature before her, Ashley paid no intention where she stepped and stumbled over some junk that laid on the front yard of a house. The second she broke eye-contact, the Deathclaw roared and started running, its horns pointing at her. As fast as she could, Ashley scrambled to her feet and run into the alleys between the houses, to slow it's attack down and also to distract it from Hancock, who surely had noticed the danger by now. The old houses did only so much in slowing the Deathclaw down and she used every chance she got to shot at it, aiming for it's belly. But it still had his head down and her bullets were almost useless against the thick scales at this part of the body. 

Wood split where the horns and spikes of the Deathclaw connected to the buildings and left a trail of destruction in the little suburb. Ashley run in a circle and tried feverish to think about a way to kill this beast. Running away wouldn't work for long, but it was hard to come up with a plan, when a eight foot tall lizard was chasing you. Why hadn't she listened to Hancock and had taken a bigger weapon with her?

In her panic-fueled state she searched in her bags for a grenade or something else that could her help in this situation, so her attention was again not on the way she run. A wooden beam made her trip and she landed with her face directly into the dirt. She groaned and was disorientated for a second, trying lazy to get on her feet again. But then a roar was almost above her and she only could turn around to see how the Deathclaw struck out. The claw hit her side and sent her flying against a wall that wasn't broken yet, but give in under her weight and impact, so that she now laid on the floor of a living room.

Stinging pain and a look down showed her that she got a big scratch over her right arm and it felt like some of her ribs were slightly cracked. With her left hand she tried to get a Stimpak out of her bags and get up to her feet again. The Deathclaw already pried into the living room, when suddenly someone whistled outside. 

"Hey, you oversized lizard. Why don't ya come at me?"

Ashley recognized this as Hancock's voice and relieve and fear likewise washed over her. What was this idiot Ghoul thinking, taunting a Deathclaw like that. With his Minigun, he wasn't fast enough to run from it and the scales were to thick for the small bullets. 

The Deathclaw seemed to react to the taunt, since it retreated and walked towards where Hancock probably was standing. She heard the Minigun spin up, before the sound of rapidly firing filled and bullet casings falling to the ground the air. 

From her current position Ashley couldn't see how things were going, so without any immediate threat she could concentrate to get some Med-X and a Stimpak out of her bags and treat herself. She wasn't fit for action right away, but Ashley managed to crawl out of the remains of the house on the alley again. 

The firing hadn't stopped and the Deathclaw was still in sight, but it had it's head low to block the bullets. At least it was kept from charging from the constant firing. If Hancock would be able to hit it's vulnerable torso, the Minigun would be actually very effective. 

Praying that her plan would work out, Ashley took a grenade from her pockets and rolled it between the legs of the Deathclaw. It stopped in front of the beast, which didn't give it a glance at all. When the grenade went off, it had the desired effect. The Deathclaw staggered backwards, head raising and roaring in pain. It probably had a burn mark on its belly now. Hancock wasted not a second and aimed at the now exposed weak-spot of the Deathclaw. Blood splattered on the walls and it took the whole rest until the beast finally went down on its back.

Ashley had to scuttle out of the way, so she wouldn't get crushed by the now dead body. She pressed herself against a house wall, starring at the Deathclaw before her and trying to catch her breath again. Blood from both of them was smeared over her arms and chest armor, but Ashley didn't care. She dipped her head and started to giggle, the chems and remaining adrenaline making her giddy in a way. Maybe she was just glad to be still in one piece.

"Hey, Ashley! You alright?" she heard Hancock calling for her. Ohman, he really must worry about her, when he didn't use one of his nicknames for her. He knelt besides her, the Minigun laying abandoned where he had stand not only seconds ago and checking on her wounds. 

She got herself somewhat under control again and grinned widely at him. "Oh god, Hancock. I could kiss you!"

The Ghoul was a bit surprised about this statement, but let out a huff of laugh and lifted his tricorn with a finger, while smiling roguishly at her. "Well, ain't saying no to the thanks of a pretty lady."

She only snorted and wanted to swat at him, but Hancock caught her wrist and squeezed it softly. "But I'm thinkin that we did some pretty impressive teamwork back there, so the thanks goes to both of us."

"You are right." Ashley sighed smiling and he hummed satisfied. 

"Can you get up?" Hancock asked, concern back in his voice and he still hold her wrist while Ashley tried to stand up again.

"Yeah, Med-X holds back most of the pain. But I should get myself checked up before we try to get the Castle back." she said and hissed when she was on her feet again. Hancock had let go, but his hands hovered close to her, in case she needed his support. Ashley stretched herself a few times carefully, to test out how much she could move herself without getting painful stings. 

"Soo~," Hancock drawled out, while he was watching her with keen interest. "What did we learn from this little adventure today?" 

"That I fucking need to watch my steps. I feel like moron, tripping around like that." Ashley groaned and picked her pipe pistol up from the ground to put it back into the holster. He chuckled at her answer.

"Well, that too. And something else?" The smugness in his voice was more than obvious and she raised her head to the sky and sighed deeply. Hancock wouldn't let go of the subject and in the end he was right after all. She turned around, arms crossed and looking with a wry smile at him.

"That I should've listened to your wise words and taken a bigger weapon with me."

"And don't ya forget that." he said with a satisfied grin and could react just in time to avoid a slap from her.

"If I had known we would encounter a  _Deathclaw_ , I would have brought my whole arsenal of weapons with me! And a little army!" she tried to defend herself, but Hancock only laughed at that.

"Think we two cover the army part very well. Maybe there ain't plenty of weapons and ammunition around in the Commonwealth, but you see how bad being thriftily can be in the end. Better be lavishly than dead."

Ashley threw her arms into the air and groaned. There was no real annoyance in it and she grinned at him. "You sound like a goddamn fortune cookie."

Hancock blinked confused at her, before letting out an amused huff. "No idea what that is, but I think it's supposed to be an insult." He pointed a finger at her and smirked. "Careful there Scorch, or I might thinking about savin your ass next time."

Playfully Ashley swatted his finger away. "You like my ass too much for that," she said with a sassy smirk. At first it looked like he wanted to disagree, but than he sighed overly dramatic and opened his arms.

"Ya got me there sister. The Commonwealth runs short on nice asses and pretty heads, so ain't let the best of them get eaten by some mutated lizard."

"How considerate of you Mr. Mayor," she said with a fond smile and shook her head.

"Hey, just thinkin about the common welfare." He shrugged and let his arms drop back. They shared a laugh at that and then Hancock turned around to retrieve the Minigun. Ashley watched after him, tapping with one finger uncertainly on her gun, until she finally came to a decision and followed him with a grin.

"Hey Hancock!"

"Yeah?" When the Ghoul turned around to look at her, he was visibly surprised to see her standing toe on toe with him.

He was not much bigger than her, but Ashley still needed to look up a bit to see into his black eyes. In that moment she realized that they had been this close only when they tended each other's wounds and that was mostly in stressful situations. Now she had a moment to marvel at how his eyes reflected the sunlight, before she grasped the ruffled jacket under his coat with one hand, to prevent him from taking a step back. She stretched up to give his scarred cheek a kiss and then had to stifle a giggle, when he took in a short, sharp inhale. 

"Thank you," she whispered and gave him an affectionate smile. They were still close to each other and would Hancock still possess a nose, their tips would be touching by now.

"Didn't we just agreed that it was teamwork?" he murmured with a low voice that send pleasant shivers through Ashley's body. Goddammit, she already loved it to listen to his usual raspy voice, but this low tone made her _feel_ things... She was able to keep her wits together and looked nonchalant at him. 

"Who said that I was thanking you for that?" His fingers brushed over her arm that was still holding his clothes in a tight grasp. Wherever he touched her, her skin would prickle delightfully and she was almost tempted to arch into his touch. 

"And what where you thankin me for sunshine?" He leaned down and Ashley had a split second to decide, if she wanted to continue with this or keep him on tenterhooks. The latter sounded more entertaining. She grinned cheekily at him. 

"For _lending_ me your knife." The hand that wasn't at his chest went to his belt and took the fastened knife from there. She took a step away from him and hold it towards his perplexed face, before she turned around and went back to the dead body.

Hancock stood in his place for a few more seconds, gaping at her flabbergasted.

 _She took my knife. Again!_ , he thought, but couldn't be really angry at her. Not with the still lingering feeling of her lips on his cheeks or the way she had shivered in his presence. He huffed amused, when Ashley kicked the Deathclaw and started to salvage everything from it, of course using his knife. He would forgive her for the theft. _This time_.

Humming an unusual cheery tune, Hancock took a few more of the Buffout pills and retrieved the Minigun. Maybe it was a stupid thought, but he hoped that they maybe would run into another Deathclaw. He liked it when Ashley was thankful to him. 

He got his next chance for playing her savior, when the Mirelurk Queen attacked them in the Castle. His reward were another kiss and the fact he could tease her for weeks now, that she should listen to him more often.

Hancock could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> As I said before, this is based on something that happened to me In-Game.  
> I was indeed on my way to the Castle, when a legendary Deathclaw attacked me. My level was not that high and I hadn't many weapons with me, so I was really screwed. Luckily I had given Hancock a Minigun a few hours before and even more luckily he actually used it and saved me with that. And I indeed said the sentence: "Hancock, I could kiss you." xD
> 
> There are many more ideas I have for One-Shots with those two, even one that includes another Deathclaw, but I'm not sure, if I will ever write them.


End file.
